Returning a Date

If you need a date for an expression operand or a function argument, you can always enter it by hand if you have a specific date in mind. Much of the time, however, you need more flexibility, such as always entering the current date or building a date from day, month, and year components. Excel offers three functions that can help: TODAY(), DATE(), and DATEVALUE().

TODAY(): Returning the Current Date

When you need to use the current date in a formula, function, or expression, use the TODAY() function, which doesn't take any arguments: